Boston Cream Whoopie Pies
Cookie of the Month Club #2
Welcome to the second installment of Cookie of the Month Club, where I’ll be concocting an inventive new cookie recipe every month. (And as always, you all will be the first to know about them.) To keep it fresh I’m going to organize the series into themed seasons. The season for the next few months: “United States of Cookies,” where I’m making cookies inspired by different U.S. states. Follow along to see if I develop one inspired by yours!
When I asked what should be the follow up to our first cookie in the “United States of Cookies, folks had so many great ideas for states and their unique flavors. I didn’t realize how many people would be upset, though, that I wasn’t planning on doing all 50 states. I had no idea this is what would get me canceled. Joking— I’m so glad folks are excited about this series, but I’m sorry I’m just one guy in his kitchen: If I did one of these every month for all 50 states, it would take four years. Even if I put out one cookie every week, it would take until … well, a year from now. And that would mean no other recipes, which I know you wonderful subscribers don’t want.
All that being said, many folks wrote in and said Boston Cream Pie Cookies for Massachusetts, this was already on my list admittedly, as a variation on whoopie pies. And when slotting it into my schedule, I knew June would be the perfect month for its publication. June, as I’m sure you know, is Pride month (in many locations) and Massachusetts was the first U.S. state to legalize gay marriage. I’m even more intent on spotlighting this after some recent national news: After two decades of increasing support for gay marriage, the percent of Americans who say same-sex marriage should be legal is either flatlining among Democrats and Independents, or falling amongst Republicans. And it’s no secret that after coming for abortion and affirmative action, the conservative justices, and several state legislatures, also desperately want a case that lets them overturn the landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which ruled the right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples.
That doesn’t even touch on the many other ways the states and our federal government are targeting LGBTQ+ people in other ways, aiming especially at trans people. But that’s why, even when it’s no longer cool for the corporations to change their logos to rainbow mode and do sponsorships with queer creators, we still have Pride. This one goes out to Massachusetts — which one day I’ll learn how to spell on the first try. It takes guts to be the first!
Landing on a base cookie and pastry cream formula for these Boston Cream Whoopie Pies was pretty straightforward. I wanted the cookie to be cakey and a little tangy — like a black and white, but with a higher loft. And I needed a lush pastry cream that would hold its shape as to not sploosh out. But the chocolate crown was eluding me.
I tested four toppings: One, a simple chocolate icing made with melted butter, milk, cocoa and powdered sugar. Two, a classic ganache comprised of chocolate and heavy cream. (This is how most Boston Cream Pies are made, but the original didn’t use it.) Three, a snappy melted chocolate coating, made snappier with the addition of coconut oil (I wasn’t going to make you temper chocolate). The icing was super chocolatey and stood up to the pastry cream, but was dull and ugly looking. The ganache was beautifully shiny and spread on like a dream — but lacked enough flavor to shine through. The snappy coating was a textural delight, but not great looking and I knew wasn’t close enough to this classic recipe’s roots.
The fourth test was a cooked chocolate fudge icing, sort of like how the one in my chocolate birthday cake starts. It checked all the boxes. The sugars get all melty to bring out the shine, butter keeps it tasting rich but not cloying, melted chocolate and cocoa combine to maximize their joint slay, and the mixture drips beautifully to evoke the classic look of the OG BCP.
Makes 15 whoopie pies
Ingredients
